Chapter 351: Beside You

Chapter 351: Chapter 351: Beside You

Amara was buried three days later.

There had been no public announcement.

Nuria had only recently returned to the world, and Arik had no intention of explaining to foreign governments that a princess dead for more than seventy years had technically arrived at the palace alive before dying for the second and final time.

The imperial mausoleum stood beneath the oldest section of the palace gardens, carved directly into the mountain rather than constructed above it. Pale stone columns framed the entrance, their surfaces covered with names that stretched back farther than most modern nations, while saint’s breath grew wild along the descending path despite the colder air beneath the trees.

Amara was placed with her family.

Seraphina rested there.

Silas too.

Their original remains had been recovered after Nuria awakened, identified through imperial records and old ward signatures before being transferred from the damaged burial chambers where survivors had hidden them after the massacre.

Now Amara lay beside them.

Where she should have been decades ago.

Arik stood before the sealed stone niche long after everyone else had left.

Liam remained beside him.

Neither spoke.

The mausoleum was cool enough that Liam had pulled his dark coat closed across his chest, the black fabric broken only by the small gold fastening containing their mate stone. Arik wore imperial mourning black without ceremonial gold, his long coat falling almost to his boots while his hands remained loosely clasped behind his back.

He had not moved in nearly ten minutes.

Liam did not ask him to.

Grief was strange when reincarnation was involved.

Goliath had already mourned Amara.

He had mourned Seraphina and Silas too, carrying their deaths for decades before eventually dying and beginning again as someone who remembered none of them.

Arik should, theoretically, have inherited grief already exhausted by another lifetime.

Instead, it hurt as though the loss had happened three days ago.

Perhaps because, for Arik, it had.

He remembered Amara laughing at marriage proposals. He remembered her trying to preserve her dignity while crying when Goliath agreed to be her father, and he remembered the peculiar pride of watching an unwanted, frightened girl slowly become certain that she had a place in his household.

Goliath had lived through losing her.

Arik had only just learned that he had.

Liam’s fingers slid between his.

Arik looked down.

"I thought remembering would make this easier."

Liam watched the sealed niche.

"Why?"

"Because he already survived it."

"Goliath did."

Arik’s jaw tightened slightly.

Liam squeezed his hand.

"You are allowed to hate that distinction and still feel it."

That earned him a brief glance.

Liam continued quietly.

"He had decades after losing them. You received the memories, understood she was your daughter, found out part of her had been trapped inside her own body for seventy-seven years, and then buried her three days later."

"When you phrase it like that, it sounds unpleasant."

"It was intended to."

Arik’s mouth moved faintly.

That was enough.

Liam leaned against his arm.

They stayed until the ward lights along the mausoleum walls dimmed automatically toward evening.

Only then did Arik turn away.

Severin and Mezos were waiting above.

Both had enough experience to avoid meeting them at the mausoleum entrance itself, so they stood farther along the garden path beneath a stone pavilion overlooking the lower terraces. Severin wore his usual dark military coat, silver fastening high at his throat, while Mezos had tied his long red hair back and was studying a tactical projection hovering above his tablet.

The moment Arik approached, the map disappeared.

"We have confirmation," Mezos said. "The location matches the direction you extracted from the tether."

Arik’s expression hardened.

"How long?"

"If Felix realizes what you did, not long enough."

"We leave tonight."

Liam answered before anyone else could.

"I am coming."

Silence followed.

Mezos looked at him.

Then at Arik.

Severin’s expression suggested he was already preparing to intervene before the argument became marital rather than strategic.

"No," Mezos said carefully. "You are not."

Liam turned his crimson eyes toward him.

"I was not asking you."

"I am aware."

Severin stepped in before Liam could continue.

"Felix already attempted to infiltrate your soul once. Taking you directly to his actual body creates an unnecessary risk."

"It also puts someone there who understands what he attempted."

"We understand enough."

"No, you understand the reports."

Liam looked at Arik.

"I am going."

Mezos inhaled slowly.

Severin crossed his arms.

Both men looked toward their emperor, apparently expecting the same thing.

Arik met Liam’s eyes.

"All right."

Silence.

Mezos blinked.

Severin’s eyebrows rose.

Liam himself looked briefly surprised.

Then suspicious.

"That was easy."

"You wanted an argument?"

"No."

"Then do not complain."

Mezos stared between them.

"Your Majesty."

Arik turned.

"With respect, I had prepared several reasons why this is a terrible idea."

"You may keep them for another occasion."

Severin made a sound suspiciously close to laughter.

Mezos looked offended. "You expected him to refuse too."

"I expected nothing. I merely enjoy your disappointment."

Arik ignored them and returned his attention to Liam.

"You stay beside me."

"I intended to."

"You do not interact directly with Felix’s ether unless necessary."

Liam’s mouth tightened.

"That depends on what he does."

"Fine."

Mezos looked increasingly alarmed by the negotiation.

Arik continued.

"If anything feels like what happened before, you tell me immediately."

"I will."

"And you do not decide that being Enki makes you indestructible."

Liam stared at him.

"That was unnecessarily specific."

"It was extremely necessary."

Severin finally laughed.

Liam ignored him.

"Anything else?"

"Yes."

Arik stepped closer, lowering his voice despite everyone present already knowing exactly how attached he was to his husband.

"You remain where I can reach you."

Liam’s expression softened.

"That was already the plan."

Arik nodded.

There was no point pretending he would leave Liam behind.

Felix had already reached for him once. He had already tried to make Liam into a vessel, already tied him into the same nightmare Arik was now walking toward.

Keeping Liam in Nuria would not magically make him safe.

More importantly, Arik did not want to face Felix while wondering what was happening hundreds of kilometers away from the one person capable of pulling him back when Goliath’s memories became too loud.

Mezos finally recovered.

"So we are genuinely taking the emperor and empress consort directly toward Felix."

"Yes."

"That simplifies absolutely nothing."

"No," Arik agreed.

Severin looked delighted. "I missed this."

Mezos gave him a murderous glance.

Liam moved closer to Arik, their shoulders touching.

The last daylight had begun disappearing behind the mountains, leaving the palace gardens washed in blue-gray shadow while the saint’s breath along the mausoleum path closed its pale blossoms for the night.

Arik glanced back once.

Toward Seraphina. Silas. Amara.

Then to the other part with Hugo and Lucien.

His family from another life.

His family still.

Liam’s hand found his again.

Arik did not release it.